The Gift
by melange
Summary: set around the time of layer 10: love...


The Gift  
  
  
**********************************************************************  
  
  
Click. Click. Click.  
  
The sound of the keys of a keyboard being furiously punched resounded   
over the hum of many linked processors. This background droning hardly   
noticed by the figure that sat crouched over a monitor, eyes   
feverishly flicking from line to line as strings of code scrolled down   
at a blinding pace.  
  
It was suicide he knew. Even with the combined processing power of all   
those navi's he had managed to salvage and connect together, it was   
still not enough to help him accomplish the impossible: to hack into   
and bring down the Knights of the Eastern Calculus.   
  
It wasn't for fame. He had no wish for the attention. It wasn't for   
money though he needed it. It wasn't for the thrill. There were better   
ways to get your adrenalin pumping. 'Then what is it for?' he asked   
himself for the umpteenth time that evening as his hand flashed to the   
mouse and set off a chain reaction of clicks.   
  
'Revenge' he answered himself simply. 'Revenge for what they did.' And   
he thought of his older brother, lying comatose in a nearby hospital,   
brain wiped clean.   
  
Click. Click. Click. Beep.  
  
The monitor screen flashed a message. Y/N?  
  
He hesitated for a moment. Did he really want to do this? Did he   
really want to go up against the Knights? The best hackers in the   
whole world? What chance did he have?  
  
'I have to make them pay... even if I die trying.' So saying, he   
steeled himself and pressed 'Y'.  
  
And it begun. He descended upon the Knights security net, trying to   
find a hole to enter. The encryption was tough. The best he had ever   
seen. There were virtually no chinks in the armor, no loopholes...   
save one. An obvious flaw that was the equivalent of hanging a huge   
sign saying 'welcome' on the front door. His instincts told him that   
something was very fishy about that hole. It was too obvious, too   
noticeable for the Knights. There was something sinister in it. A trap   
perhaps?  
  
He stopped for a moment, hovering just outside the hole. 'Do I or   
don't I?' He knew he had not much time. The more he skirted around the   
defense net the more chances that he would be detected. Yet it was   
certain that nothing good lay behind that inviting hole. But it was   
the only opening he could find. Maybe could evade the trap that was   
surely set. Maybe he could take his chances. He sucked in a deep   
breath...  
  
He dived into the hole...  
  
Swirls of color flowed around him as he entered the security breach.   
He passed bits and bytes of information, information about other   
people the Knights had gathered. He felt his blood boil as he thought   
of the number of people that had suffered at their hands. He would   
make them pay.  
  
Just then, the tube of information began pulsing red. That couldn't be   
good. He began making his exit. Rushing to the gate. As he fled he   
passed by a few windows blinking 'intruder' in bold red with finer   
print beneath them. He didn't stop to read. He could feel a redness   
closing around him, wanting to pull him in. He fled. Faster and faster   
and he was out!  
  
However the joy he felt was short-lived. A red beam was chasing after   
him from the security hole he had just departed. It was fast, very   
fast. He watched in horror as the red light bounced from node to node   
without so much as a thought. 'It is as fast thought it self' he   
exclaimed desperately to noone in particular as the red shaft of light   
closed another three nodes. There was nearly nothing between him and   
it.  
  
It was upon him. He felt the red tentacles closing in on him.   
Desperately he shifted himself out of full Wired mode and was back in   
his chair. He looked at his monitor. It was blinking red. He noticed   
with alarm that the processors were humming louder, clicks and random   
whirls noticeably loud. The cooling system released excess steam at   
unnaturally irregular intervals. Psssshh. Pssssh. A red light flashed   
on the lower corner of the screen. 'Warning. Overload.'  
  
He leaped aside seeking cover behind his bed, quickly pulling the navi   
connections away from his head, as the monitor began to sizzle. Tiny   
wisps of smoke started escaping from the navi. He ducked just in time   
as his navi exploded, sending bits of broken chips and other wiring   
scattering around the room.  
  
After a short while, he raised his head. Tears welled in his eyes as   
he saw the computer he had worked so hard to put together in scattered   
pieces around his room because with it died all his hopes of revenge.   
The monitor had toppled backward and now rested on the floor,   
surrounded by melted integrated circuits. The monitor flickered on and   
off erratically, the only source of lighting in the ruined room. Its   
forlorn light only heightened the despair in the room.  
  
Suddenly to his amazement, the monitor flicked on and held steady. A   
stream of blinding white light seemed to emanate from it. He stepped   
closer and gasped as he could make out an image on the monitor that   
was supposed to be ruined. It was the tranquil face of a young girl, a   
strand of her brown hair tied by a cross-shaped hair band. She looked   
at him then seemed to scan the room, looking at the burnt out pieces   
of his navi. She closed her eyes...  
  
He stumbled back as the monitor appeared to glow softly, seemingly   
repairing itself from within. The girl smiled and glanced over the   
fragmented corpse of his navi. His eyes widened as he saw pieces of   
circuits, wires and other wrecked parts began to glow in the scattered   
debris. Slowly the parts floated up, hanging in mid air. The white   
light of the monitor bathed over them and they began to rush towards   
each other combining and merging. He watched in awe as the useless   
burnt out pieces of circuits assembled the interior of a navi in front   
of his eyes. Wire connected to wire. Transistor to transistor. Circuit   
to circuit. Silicon to silicon. Light shone from them and they were   
fused together as if brand new.   
  
The new navi floated down towards him, hovered just an arms length   
away. He reached out slowly to touch it with trembling arms. It felt   
solid. He grasped it and held it in his hand. He looked again at the   
monitor and saw the girl smile again as two cords thrust out of the   
debris, sending bits of unused transistors flying, and snaked towards   
the monitor and the new navi... embedding into their sides...   
connecting them together. The power switch on the navi flicked on...  
  
The image on the monitor now faded away... the smile on her face still   
beaming as it disappeared... to be replaced by the familiar Tachibana   
logo. The navi beeped and prompted...  
  
"User Login"  
  
  
**********************************************************************  
  
by melange  
melange@nervhq.org  
infanity.net/lain 


End file.
